Help with rooting a Pachypodium

[AndyC]

Last November I put a small cutting of what I think is a Pachypodium in some gritty compost and left it in my greenhouse. By the end of July it had done nothing at all by way of producing roots but was still green so I rubbed off the callous that had formed on the base and dipped it in some rooting hormone. It has now produced a tuft of leaves but still no roots
IMG_5147[1] by Andy Cowlishaw, on Flickr
What would you suggest I do to get it to root or is it a no hoper?

[Chad]

It isn't a genus I know at all, but...

It isn't dead until it is dried and shriveled up!

As with most succulents I guess you just have to keep it on the dry side and in sharply drained compost and wait and wait and wait to see what happens. A quick Google suggests bottom heat helps.

Good luck.

Chad

[AndyC]

Thanks, I'll try a bit of bottom heat.

[Paul S]

I'm not entirely convinced it is a pachypodium. At the moment I am inclined towards Kleinia neriifolia. Do you have a pic of mum by any chance?
Edit - also I am struggling to see any grit in your gritty compost. The green on the top indicates it is way too wet, so it could be that roots have formed and rotted.

[AndyC]

I found mum towards the end of a long hike along the north east cost of Lanzarote on scrub land by the sea by which time the camera batteries were exhausted. Pachypodium was a less than educated guess so you are probably right about its identity.
The compost was about 50% grit but it had been sitting in the same mix for nearly a year so I guess some of the grit had probably sunk below the surface. I also had an upturned clear plastic beaker over the pot which accounts for the green on the top. I have now re-potted in a new mix and dispensed with the plastic beaker.
As will be clear to everyone on here, I know less about succulents than I do about the dark side of the moon. Perhaps I should go back to growing vegetables, I was quite good at that.

[Paul S]

From Lanzarote it would defo. be Kleinia neriifolia. Cool plant - the species is on all the islands but looks a a bit different on each.

Rooting succulent cuttings is best done hard. I mean, really hard. I do mine in moler clay with no soil at all. Seramis is similar. Perlite would work. Give the medium a water, poke the cutting in then forget all about it until you can see it has roots coming out of the bottom of the pot.

I am crap at growing veggies, mind!

[AndyC]

Thanks for the tips. I've not used Moler Clay before, would a fine grade (average size 3mm) work ok?

[Paul S]

Yes, perfect. It is easily bought - Tesco Low Dust Cat Litter. or Eurocarparts sell exactly the same stuff for mopping petrol spillages. Depends if you like it scented or not :)

I've been using it as a soil ameliorant for absolutely years and think it is excellent. Lighter than grit, better behaved than perlite. Almost the same thing as Seramis but 1/3 of the price. In fact a lot of cactus and succulent growers use it as the growing medium on its own with no soil added.

[AndyC]

Grand, thanks. I'll try it on the Aloes and Oscularia deltoides as well.

[kGarden]

Sorry, off at a bit of a tangent here ...

Tesco Low Dust Cat Litter. or Eurocarparts sell exactly the same stuff for mopping petrol spillages. Depends if you like it scented or not :)

I've been using it as a soil ameliorant for absolutely years and think it is excellent. Lighter than grit, better behaved than perlite

Interesting, thanks, looks like about 43p / L

I have been using medium grade Perlite (14p / L) adding about 1 part to 4 parts potting compost for general potting to lighten the mix and reduce compaction after potting. For cuttings I have been using around 50:50

When I worked on a propagation nursery they had mist benches of 100% Perlite for cuttings reused over-and-over. We put iron steam pipes on the benches, piled the Perlite into a mound, covered with tarpaulin, and sterilised, then levelled out and stuck the cuttings in (Gypsophila and Carnations, that I remember, they grew tissue culture, virus free, plants for cut flower growers). Strike rate was as close to 100% as made no odds ... but doing the sterilising work in mid Summer was uncomfortable, worse in the soil polytunnels where piling the soil for sterilisation was a good workout!

So at what point is "cat litter" a more appropriate mix for plants than, say, Perlite? Would my Christmas Cactus do better? or am I over thinking this ...